Are you still reading blogs? Do you still use an RSS readers such as Bloglines or Google Reader? Or do you get most of your blog fix from Twitter?
Many of us who have embraced Twitter have discovered that we spend less time on Google Reader, et al because the people we follow on Twitter are providing enough interesting links to a variety of content, including blogs.
On TechCrunchIT, Steve Gillmor argues “RSS doesn’t cut it anymore” and that “RSS is a shell of its former self, casually subsumed as the transport for 140+ content into the social stream”.
For people who spend a lot of time online, RSS has lost some of its appeal for the following reasons:
1. This demographic consumes a lot of information so the prospect of combing through an ever-growing number of blogs within an increasingly-neglected RSS reader can be daunting.
2. Since these people are so time-strapped, they are constantly looking for ways to prioritize/filter the blogs they do read. This explains why Twitter has emerged as a consumption tool because it, in theory, you only see the links provided by people you trust (aka follow)
Of course, it is important to recognize that people such as Steve Gillmor (and myself, for that matter) aren’t representative of the online community. We – and most Twitter users – consume a lot of information, and looking for new, cool tools to consume it. We’re also fickle, gravitating to new, shiny tools before abandoning them when they move into the mainstream.
While Gillmor’s thesis probably rings true with the digerati, it is premature to blow off RSS as a dead or dying concept. In many ways, RSS is evolving to serve the needs of people better. Waterloo, Ont.-based PostRank is an example of a company putting a new twist on RSS with a service to filter and prioritize the most interesting blogs.
Links: Some more thoughts on how we’re consuming content comes from WebWorkerDaily’s Eric Berlin.
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Is RSS Really Dying?
Are you still reading blogs? Do you still use an RSS readers such as Bloglines or Google Reader? Or do you get most of your blog fix from Twitter?
Many of us who have embraced Twitter have discovered that we spend less time on Google Reader, et al because the people we follow on Twitter are providing enough interesting links to a variety of content, including blogs.
On TechCrunchIT, Steve Gillmor argues “RSS doesn’t cut it anymore” and that “RSS is a shell of its former self, casually subsumed as the transport for 140+ content into the social stream”.
For people who spend a lot of time online, RSS has lost some of its appeal for the following reasons:
1. This demographic consumes a lot of information so the prospect of combing through an ever-growing number of blogs within an increasingly-neglected RSS reader can be daunting.
2. Since these people are so time-strapped, they are constantly looking for ways to prioritize/filter the blogs they do read. This explains why Twitter has emerged as a consumption tool because it, in theory, you only see the links provided by people you trust (aka follow)
Of course, it is important to recognize that people such as Steve Gillmor (and myself, for that matter) aren’t representative of the online community. We – and most Twitter users – consume a lot of information, and looking for new, cool tools to consume it. We’re also fickle, gravitating to new, shiny tools before abandoning them when they move into the mainstream.
While Gillmor’s thesis probably rings true with the digerati, it is premature to blow off RSS as a dead or dying concept. In many ways, RSS is evolving to serve the needs of people better. Waterloo, Ont.-based PostRank is an example of a company putting a new twist on RSS with a service to filter and prioritize the most interesting blogs.
Links: Some more thoughts on how we’re consuming content comes from WebWorkerDaily’s Eric Berlin.
Technorati Tags: blogs, RSS